Merger review of creeping private equity consolidation: a new use for Article 22 EUMR and beyond?

Gone are the days when merger control risk assessments were only rarely a feature of private equity deal planning. Competition authorities around the world have recently turned their attention to creeping consolidation in particular sectors, including across private equity portfolios, and are finding new ways of using their existing toolkits to review so-called ‘roll-up’ strategies pursuant to which a private equity investor acquires multiple small companies in the same sector. This article considers the mechanisms through which private equity ‘roll-up’ transactions may be subject to merger review in the EU and the UK and the potentially far-reaching implications for PE firms and those advising them.